


Rumors

by AHS



Category: Actor RPF, Queer as Folk (US) RPF
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-08-06
Updated: 2008-08-06
Packaged: 2017-10-13 01:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHS/pseuds/AHS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world thinks Gale's involved with his female costar.  But "the world" wasn't supposed to include Randy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rumors

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I made this up. I know nothing of the celebrities mentioned, I'm sure Scott's handwriting is lovely, and I'm sure the DH women get along, lol.

“ _Teri Hatcher rumored to be dating her Desperate Housewives costar, Gale Harold…_ ”

Randy had expected the rumors.

“ _Gale Harold and Teri Hatcher spotted dining together, looking very intimate_ …”

He had even half-expected them to be true. Two attractive people, spending all that time together, playing a couple… It could happen.

It had before.

But he probably would have gone on taking the magazine covers and entertainment news show teasers with a large grain of salt…

“ _Teri Hatcher and Gale Harold - Looks like LOVE_!”

…if not for the fact that he hadn’t talked to Gale in weeks… really, months. He understood that Gale was busy shooting the show, but nobody did _busy_ like Randy, and he’d still found time to call! After the third unreturned voice mail, Randy stopped, figuring Gale would get in touch eventually… if he wanted to.

Around the same time, the rumors were building. And then they peaked with this one…

“ _Are Teri Hatcher and her TV husband, Gale Harold, getting married in real life?_ ”

And, as absurd as it should have sounded, Randy just knew this was the reason Gale hadn’t called. Either because whatever personal life he had was completely spent on _her_ , or because he had been afraid to tell Randy the truth. That he was getting married. Maybe he’d thought Randy would be upset.

Well, fuck him. Randy wasn’t upset. He was thrilled for them.

“ _The twosome has still not officially admitted that they’re dating. But our sources reveal that Hatcher has applied for a marriage license_ …”

Fucking thrilled.

*****

  


“Hello?”

“Rand!”

“Gale… hi.”

“Brrr,” Gale shivered in exaggeration at the frost in Randy’s voice. “Okay, I’ve been a dick. Sorry I haven’t called in so long. It’s just-”

“It’s fine. I understand. You’ve had more important things going on.”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Try to get me to say something’s more important than you. Even if you tricked me into saying that, I wouldn’t mean it.”

“Okay.” _Right._

“Rand, I’ve fucking missed you.”

Randy wouldn’t even let himself hear that. “Things are going great for you, huh? Me, too.”

“Are they? Good. I mean, I know you’re fucking killing it, every play you’re in, but… I haven’t talked to you since a little after…”

“After Simon and I broke up.”

“Yeah. But you’ve been good?”

“It’s been… an adjustment, but yes. Maybe it would have been nice to have…” He shot down a few more painfully accurate descriptions before settling on, “an old friend to talk to, but I’ve been working a lot. You know what that’s like.”

“Work… yeah. Shit, but my personal life’s been more work than work has lately.”

Randy bit the bullet. “How’s Teri?”

“She is an awesome person.”

“Um… _awesome_.” Randy rolled his eyes. “Well, she certainly seems happy, from what I can tell. I guess that’s thanks to you.”

“Fuck yeah, it is! And that brings me to what I called about.”

“I thought you called to, you know… talk to me.”

“And, while I’m at it, invite you to… something.”

“‘Something’? Could you be more vague?”

“It’s, uh… it’s a secret.”

“I guess you could.”

“Fine. It’s a celebration of love and all that rot. Good food, champagne. The chance to play Whack-a Mole on any non-sanctioned photogs found in the bushes. What do you say? The man of the hour really wants you there.”

Randy concentrated on breathing. He couldn’t get over how casually Gale was telling him all this. Gale, who had never even _believed_ in marriage for as long as Randy had known him. Gale, who had always been so supremely un-Hollywood, but was now all swept up in some starlet. Gale, who - once upon a time - had been swept up… in _him_.

Maybe Gale was trying to make things easier on both of them by ignoring all of that. By ending whatever hope of them remained with a glib invitation to his fucking wedding.

“Hey, wear your lucky blue socks. _Something blue_ , you know.”

Asshole.

“I don’t think I can.”

“Okay, wear whatever socks you want.”

“No, I meant I can’t go.”

“I didn’t even tell you when it is.”

“I just… don’t think I can. And I have to… hang up now. Bye.”

“Ra-”

Randy hung up. When it started to ring again, he turned his phone off.

*****

  


“Gale? You look like hell.”

“Thanks, Scotty. Just tired.”

“I bet you are. Gale, I know I’ve said it before, but Teri and I are so grateful for everything you’ve done for us. Not just setting us up in the first place, but since then… It’s been above and beyond.”

“You two crazy kids deserve a real shot. I’m happy to help.”

“You don’t look happy. What’s going on?”

“Nothing, except… I called Randy.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think he’s coming for the big day.”

“Oh… Well, that’s the risk with inviting everyone so last minute. But tell him I said to let his poor understudy go on for once!”

“I don’t know… He sounded upset from just the idea.”

“Maybe he’s not ready to sit through a wedding yet. It hasn’t been that long since he and Simon split, right?”

“Fuck. That’s probably it… I’m an asshole.”

“Would I have an asshole for a best man? Look, you can call him later and smooth things over. But don’t push the wedding. It would be nice to have him there, but I understand if he can’t… Gale?”

“What? Oh, yeah. I’ll do that.”

“…Gale, my friend, I really hope you find this kind of love soon. Or… _reclaim_ it.”

Gale did his best to pretend he didn’t know what that meant. “Tell Hatch I’ll see her at work. You… I’ll call.”

*****

  


The next day, Gale called Randy and left a voice mail that went something like this…

“Rand… I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t think about how down you must be after the Simon thing, and how you probably don’t want to see a happy couple and hear fucking vows of love and commitment right now. Maybe part of me didn’t want to believe the end of your relationship with him would affect you so much, but… shit, that was just stupid. Anyway, we’d like you to be there, but I want you to know I understand if you still don’t want to. The super secret details are as follows… and then this tape will self-destruct in thirty seconds…”

Six hours later, Randy returned Gale’s call with a voice mail along these lines…

“FUCK YOU, Gale Harold! You _understand_? You don’t talk to me for months, and then you tell me about this wedding like it’s no big deal, by inviting me with a big smile, like I’m supposed to be happy? Am I just supposed to be grateful for any crumb of attention? That you remembered my name after… everything? That we never should’ve been. And you think I’m all weepy over Simon? If that’s what you understand about me, then you never understood me at all. Understand me now and fucking leave me alone for good this time.”

*****

  


“ _Hey_ … I know you. What’s up?”

“Babe, have you heard from Gale?”

“Not today. Shouldn’t he be with you?”

“That’s the thing. He was. We filmed a scene earlier. But we took a break. I saw him on his cell phone, and then he was gone. He hasn’t come back. That was two hours ago.”

“He didn’t say anything to anybody?”

“No.”

“That doesn’t sound like Gale.”

“I know. So, I’m not being a freak by worrying about him?”

“You just sound like the woman I love to me.”

“Good. Mind you, the woman you love reserves the right to kick his ass once she finds him in one piece.”

“That’s fair. I take it he’s not answering his phone?… Eh, I have a few ideas to try.”

“I only have one more scene I can do without him, so if he doesn’t show up, I’ll see you sooner rather than later. He _has_ to come back tomorrow, or we won’t finish, and then no two weeks off, and that will throw off our whole _you-know-what_.”

“Teri, breathe. I’ll find him.”

“Sorry. I am. Good luck.”

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Fuck, I’d better go. The director’s about to start throwing things.”

“When in doubt, duck. Bye.”

“And I love you, too!”

 

*****

  


“Randy? It’s Scott.”

“Oh, hey… Hi, Scotty. Long time no talk.”

“I know, and I want to catch up on everything you’re doing, but…”

“What?”

“Have you talked to Gale today?”

“…Gale left me a _lovely_ voice mail last night, which I returned early this morning, and I doubt I’ll ever hear from him again.”

“What? Randy… This doesn’t have to do with the wedding, does it? He said you seemed upset…”

“He _told_ you about that?”

“Of course he did. I told him maybe you just weren’t in a wedding mood, but he knew it would mean a lot to Teri and me for you to be there on our big day. I know you haven’t met her yet, but she-”

“You and Teri? It would mean a lot to…? Oh, I guess you’re Gale’s best man, huh.”

“Randy, what are you talking about? It would mean a lot to me because I’m about to marry the most amazing and beautiful woman on the planet, and I want my friends to see it. My friends and all those jerks I hated in high school.”

“…Scotty, _you…?_ You are the one marrying her? You mean, Gale’s not…?” No, no, no. He couldn’t have been so wrong about everything. Randy couldn’t have queened and screamed and told Gale to leave him alone forever for absolutely no reason.

“You thought Gale and Teri…?”

Except that he apparently had.

“You’ve been watching too much TV.”

Randy didn’t even _like_ television!

“But- but what about all the rumors? Everybody thinks…”

Randy suddenly remembered the reports of the marriage license. The other name, surmised to be Gale’s, had been described as “purposely illegible, in an attempt at secrecy.” He also remembered that Scott’s handwriting was so bad, calling it “chicken scratch” would be an insult to poultry.

“Gale is incredibly loyal and generous. You should know that more than anyone.”

Fuck. “I used to.”

“He introduced Teri and me within a couple of weeks of him starting on the show, and we hit it off right away. He knew rumors were bound to swirl around the two of them. Costars are always either having an affair or hate each other’s guts. So, he wanted to help keep our relationship a secret. Let us have some normalcy. I mean, the press doesn’t give a damn about me, but they will follow Teri and whoever she happens to be dating. She said something once about how even the good relationships she’d been in had been doomed by all the scrutiny, and Gale didn’t want us to be another casualty. All he had to do to fuel the rumors was ignore the attention like he always does.”

“But he hates that attention. Nearly all attention. He has a hard enough time dealing with fans looking at him, following him around, even the well-meaning ones. It makes his skin crawl. You’re saying he volunteered to have the paparazzi put a bullseye on his forehead?”

“Basically.”

“Why would he do that?”

“He’s a good friend.”

“I’m sure cementing his straight status didn’t hurt.” Randy spoke the words with half-hearted bitterness. Sadly, it was easier believing the worst of Gale than to believe the best and know he’d thrown it away.

“I, ah, don’t think that’s what it was about. Honestly… I think he was punishing himself.”

“For… what?”

Scott chose his words carefully. He was guessing, to an extent, and it really wasn’t his place to say… but he had a feeling his friends needed him to say it.

“Well, if he _had_ love… the real thing… and let it slip away from him… maybe partly because he was afraid of the kind of attention it would bring… and he regretted that… what better way to punish himself for it than with a headline-making _fake_ relationship? Reminding him every day of the chance he’d had for something worth it?”

“Scotty…” Randy’s throat was dry, but maybe not for long, because he felt like he might throw up. “It wasn’t just his fault. He’s not the only one who regrets.”

“I know,” Scott said simply. “But he could do with reminding. Of course, we’ve got to find him first.”

“He’s… gone?”

“Teri saw him on his cell phone, and then he just took off.”

“Fuck. He checked his voice mail, didn’t he?”

“Probably.”

“I said horrible things. How do I take them back?”

“Don’t worry, Randy. He’ll be okay. I’ll track him down.”

“Check his car.”

“His car?”

“If you can find his car, I mean. But he’s probably just at home. He likes to sit in his car when he’s upset. Most likely after having thrown his phone… representing _me_ … off a bridge.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks.”

“Scott?”

“Yeah?”

“Am I still invited to the wedding?”

*****

  


“Gale?”

He was lying down in the back, legs stretched out over one of the front seats. Scott knocked on a window. He had a spare set of Gale’s keys, which was how he’d gotten inside the garage, but he wanted his friend to let him in. Which he eventually did.

“The car’s not running. That’s good.”

“I’m not trying to off myself. At least not until after I get you married.”

“That’s reassuring. Time to come inside. You’ve got to get some rest so you can go to work tomorrow and get yelled at.”

“I don’t care. I only care about him and he yelled already.”

Gale was drunk, but only enough to get more depressed. Not enough to get numb to it. Scott pulled on his arm, pulling him awkwardly out of the vehicle, and then used it to help support his weight.

“He’s alone but he doesn’t… I assumed he’d always be there, always want me one way or ‘nother. Wrong. Know what they say ‘bout making assumptions?”

“Makes an ass out of you and ‘ _umption_ ,’ I know, Gale. But there’s also the one about it being darkest before the dawn. Now, c’mon, you know you’re not supposed to drink and… sit.”

“I lost him… I don’t even know how.”

Scott sighed. “Cheer up, big guy. Maybe it’s just me being a sentimental fool with the wedding just a few days away, but… I have hope for you two.”

*****

  


“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the- _Oh_ … Never mind!”

The smallish gathering of loved ones laughed as the bride grabbed her groom by his lapels and planted a big wet one on him. Mr. and Mrs. Scott Lowell were presented and headed up the aisle of the garden wedding to whistles and cheers, none louder than those coming from the best man.

Gale’s smiling face was only somewhat a mask. His heart was full with his friends’ happiness, but he still felt empty. Sad every time he thought of Randy, and he didn’t know how to not think of him.

A tug on his sleeve kept him in the moment, however, and he winked down at the pretty lady on his arm. Teri’s eleven-year-old daughter had deemed flower girl too babyish a job and cast herself as maid of honor instead. Letting her enthusiasm carry him along, he put one foot in front of the other… until just beyond the last row of chairs, when someone stepped right in front of them.

“Randy.”

He was there, breathtaking in a gray suit, eyes sparkling. They sparkled briefly at Gale before lowering and charming his escort. Randy bent down to whisper in the little girl’s ear. She then turned to whisper back to him, before running ahead to one of the tables laden with food.

“What did you say to her?”

“I asked if I could borrow the best man.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she hoped I fixed you, because you’re not as much fun as usual.”

“Can’t imagine why.”

They stared at each other, the moment only broken by Randy catching a waving Sharon out of the corner of his eye. He smiled and nodded to her, but breathed a sigh of relief when Peter rather helpfully swooped in and steered her away, towards the buffet line.

Randy took Gale’s hand. “Come with me.”

Gale’s body was stubborn at first, but he soon let himself be pulled forward, even as his mouth was putting up resistance. “I’m supposed to make the fucking toast…”

“Later. The groom’s already informed me I’m not getting any cake if I don’t kidnap you for as long as it takes.”

“Takes for what?”

Randy just kept walking, and Gale followed.

*****

  


Down a path, Gale sat on a stone wall while Randy paced in the grass, a little overgrown in the secluded area beyond the borders of the wedding celebration. Sat and waited for some kind of explanation.

“I wore my lucky socks, like you asked me,” Randy said, lifting a foot and raising his trouser leg to show a flash of blue.

Gale had a quick flash of fond memory of how those socks became _lucky_ , but he sure as fuck hoped that was not the explanation he’d been waiting for. He could not have prepared himself for the rush of words that came when Randy opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. I’m sorry for listening to the fucking media when I should know better. I’m sorry for not listening to you well enough to understand you like I used to. I’m sorry for feeling so sorry for myself that I gave up on you, which I never want to do. I’m sorry for leaving that message, which was just mean. And mostly, I’m sorry I let so much distance get between us that all this miscommunication became possible.”

Gale blinked slowly at Randy, who had not stopped pacing for one second. “What-”

“And yes, you were the one not returning my calls, and I was angry with you for that! But your stupidity is not an excuse for my own! And I don’t even know if I’m talking about now or then. Back then I put things, _people_ between us so I could pretend you weren’t backing away. But when all the stumbling blocks were gone, I still couldn’t reach you, and I didn’t want to think about what that meant!”

Gale felt like he was in slow motion and Randy was sped up double time and he was being left behind. “Rand, I-”

“I’m just so fucking happy that you didn’t get married!” Randy shouted.

That seemed to snap Gale out of his warp and into the moment unfolding with the man next to him. “Why the fuck would I get married?”

Randy laughed, a free and easy sound, taking in Gale’s facial expression… which looked something like he’d been accused of drinking raw sewage… and moved close enough to throw his arms around him.

Gale tried to get the slow motion back, for them to be in it together, holding on. It had been a sadly long time since they’d had contact like this. Randy was warm and strong and smelled incredible and felt even better. So good that it took a minute or two for Gale’s ears and brain to start working together.

“You thought… I was marrying Teri?” He pulled back to question the blue as ever eyes.

“Isn’t that kind of what everybody was supposed to think?”

“You’re not everybody.”

“That’s good to know.”

“Rand…” Gale racked his memory to think of what he could have said to Randy when he’d called to have gotten them so messed up…

 _How’s Teri?  
She is an awesome person.  
Well, she certainly seems happy, from what I can tell. I guess that’s thanks to you.  
Fuck yeah, it is!_

 _Anyway, we’d like you to be there…_

And came away with the realization that he was an idiot.

“I am so fucking sorry, Rand… It just never occurred to me that you would buy any of that shit for the press, so I didn’t think about how the words out of my mouth sounded. I mean, you know me.”

“I know. But I… didn’t trust it anymore. I hadn’t talked to you in so long. Months, you never called me, and then when you did…”

“Fuck, I tried… I shouldn’t have stopped calling, but I was trying to give you space… not pressure you for anything after Simon. I thought that was the right thing. And then… maybe I was afraid to get your opinion on my latest _bright idea_.”

“Letting the world think you and Teri were together to protect her relationship with Scott?”

Gale nodded.

“I think you’re crazy… and amazing.”

Gale let out a breath of relief. “Yeah?”

“And fucking incredibly, beautifully HOT.”

Gale chuckled bashfully. “Yeah?”

“Always have, and I always will.”

Gale absorbed that for a beat or two, slipping down off the wall… then wrapped fingers around silk necktie and pulled Randy into his body.

“I’m not gonna let you forget that this time.”

Randy smiled, happily counting Gale’s eyelashes, which was something he never got tired of in all the years before… gaze then skimming down and focusing on beloved lips. “Promise?”

Gale leaned in until the warmth of his breath tickled Randy’s lips open, and he was met the rest of the way, Randy likewise grabbing Gale’s tie and lifting ever so slightly up on his toes. When lips pressed and tongues touched and slid, it was like it had always been, and how it had never quite gotten to be. It was a kiss full of as many questions as answers, but also something they had never really allowed themselves before.

Tasted like _hope_.

“Whoa, what’s-” Gale broke the kiss after a minute, looking up to the sky. “Sorry, I thought I heard a helicopter. Turns out it was just my heart pounding in my ears.” He grinned cheesily at Randy.

“Oh ho, very nice,” Randy laughed against his neck. “No paparazzi have crashed, have they?”

“Knock on wood,” Gale tapped on Randy’s head, “nope. Looks like we kept this shindig off their radar. Having the other ‘Housewives’ not come probably helped a lot.”

Randy gave him a look.

“That was a mutual decision among all of them for the good of the wedding.”

“Mm hmm.”

“They get along!”

“I didn’t say anything.”

Gale cackled and hugged the smaller man, rocking side to side with fucking joy. “Part of inviting people so last minute was to purposely keep _everybody_ from being able to make it. You know? People whose presence all added together would have been a tell to the press. That’s why it’s actually good that not too many from the little TV families are here. Just Sharon, Peter… Dean…”

“Dean came in from Canada?”

“Not our Dean. Teri’s Dean… Cain.”

“Superman’s here?? You know, we should really get back to the reception…”

“Hey, hey…”

“What? I still haven’t met the bride!”

“Mm hmm.”

*****

  


They still had a lot of things to talk about. They still had a lot of past issues to sort out and present ones to deal with. They were still two people with very busy schedules happening on opposite sides of the country.

But this time, they _would_ talk.

Emerging from their seclusion, they stood, Randy just inside Gale’s arms, and watched the newly married couple give in to the lure - however cliché - of smashing cake in each other’s radiantly happy faces.

“They’re really good together,” Gale said.

“It’s good that they had someone like you, to help them be able to just be.” Randy paused for effect. “Now, who’s going to do that for us?”

“Huh?”

Across the lawn, Randy spied Peter introducing himself to Dean Cain, and lit up with inspiration. “There you go! I bet Peter would be willing to let the world think he’s having a hot affair with _him_ to help keep attention off us.”

Gale’s head shook in entertained confusion. “One, how the fuck does that even make sense, Rand? And two, I’m pretty sure Supe is straight.”

“How straight?”

“Straighter than I am.”

“Oh, so that leaves us a _lot_ of room to play with!” Randy rubbed his hands together, and Gale took a playful bite out of his shoulder, before turning serious.

“I want you to know… whatever happens, however much attention comes with this or not… I’m in it. And if you’re in it with me, that’s worth… anything.”

Randy leaned back, eyes closing, pleasantly overcome. “Anything else?”

“Yeah. No matter how often you get mad and tell me to leave you alone, I never will again.”

Gale kissed his temple, and Randy smiled.

“See? You _do_ understand me.”

 

  
  

**Author's Note:**

> My apologies to my BFF KayCeeCruz (the true future Mrs. Scott Lowell)!!! ;)


End file.
